[HPMOR]

Why is this the case? I don't understand, can somebody explain the logic to me here?

[ares623]

Maybe used the email address as a primary key. Ask me how I know.

[Glyptodon]

That was my first guess TBH. Mostly because it seems like the kind of thing scientists writing Python would do.

[prmph]

So with all their billions they could not get a proper software engineer to architect their project?

Unless there is some deep technical reason why things have to be this way, which I very much doubt.

And now they can't change it? Where is Claude when you need him/her

[blitzegg]

Well it does eliminate a whole list of problems related to account takeover, account recovery workflows, legal questions regarding which email owns the data, etc. Sometimes less is more. Secure, reliable, simple.

[sixothree]

They also allow google accounts. I guess they use the email for that too?

[aunty_helen]

I know, what’s so special about email? The common thing between your accounts, that the company that has a lot of chat history is allowing you not to change?

[perotid]

>When creating an account, please make sure you use an email you'll have long-term access to.

I'm just guessing, but the above might suggest a potential incentive: They would like you to hand over a valuable/longterm email, as opposed to a temporary email (for supposedly more privacy or testing), by making it difficult to change it later.

'Dark patterns are the pavement of todays corporate infrastructure.'

[CPLX]

If I had to guess, it's to stop people from acquiring a high reputation with Anthropic and then selling the account or giving it to other people.

Obviously, there's a way to do that still. Not saying it's a good idea. But if I had to guess as to why, that's the one that comes to mind.

[rbtprograms]

I can only assume there is some database structuring issue where things would potentially be broken if emails aren't update correctly, but I'm just guessing.

[doctorpangloss]

To reduce subscription sharing. It’s not complicated.